A man wears a Donald Trump mask and dances as people wait to see Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake during a rally, in Prescott, Arizona, U.S., November 4, 2024.
The question keeps coming up in almost every conversation about the horrors of the Trump regime: Who’s really pulling the strings? Or to ask in another way: Who’s really controlling this s--- show?
I’ve heard four theories:
1. Trump. In this view, it’s Trump’s show almost entirely. He’s been plotting his revenge ever since he lost the 2020 election. He’s the mastermind behind Project 2025. He’s come up with most of the ideas for appointees. He’s the source of most of the crackpot notions (making Canada the 51st state, renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, invading Greenland) and it’s his friendship with Putin (or Putin’s leverage over him) that has remade American foreign policy.
2. Musk. In this view, Musk is the brains behind the throne. Musk has figured out how to burrow into the bureaucracy, how to intimidate political enemies, and how to get needed information. In addition, Musk’s 220 million followers on Musk’s X plus his bottomless wealth have made him far more powerful than Trump. And Musk doesn’t have to worry about politics or constituents; he can exercise unrivaled power without being accountable.
3. The oligarchy. A third view is that the real power in this regime is coming from a handful of billionaires — not just Musk but also Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Rupert Murdoch, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and their fellow crypto-bros who are cashing in big time. They get inside information on what Trump is about to do, so they know what the stock and bond markets are about to do. They have the wealth to determine not only which candidates will prevail but also how much of the venture capital in the world will be allocated. They’re pulling real strings.
4. Putin. A final view is that the real power behind Trump — the person who’s making and implementing the most important decisions — is Vladimir Putin. Putin got Trump elected in 2016 and again in 2024 and wields enormous influence over Trump. Trump is doing exactly what Putin wants in Ukraine, Trump is doing Putin’s dirty work by distancing the U.S. from NATO, and Trump is also following through on Putin’s desire to destroy American democracy and undermine America’s power. Putin is behind it all.
So this week’s Office Hours discussion question: Who’s really in control?
Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.
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